


Life Goes On

by orphan_account



Series: In the Bleachers [2]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/F, One-Sided Attraction, Stand Alone, The was Made Purely for Feels, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:54:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22896004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Piper protects Nora at all costs.
Relationships: Female Sole Survivor & Piper Wright
Series: In the Bleachers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1637839
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Life Goes On

Raiders were a pest that just came with the Wasteland. Much like Radroaches, or Bloodbugs, or even the odd hostile Brahmin. If you left the safety of your settlement, or city, or whatever safehouse you have, you were going to run into at least one, guaranteed. And when you were constantly on the road, like Piper and Blue were, raiders became less of a worry and more of just an annoyance. It seemed like every turn there were more just waiting to take the little supplies they shared between them.

This time, they had been caught off guard. Cut off in the middle of a conversation by a bullet that flew right between them. They always seemed to be such terrible shots. Or maybe it was a warning. Piper would never get that answer, it seemed, as Blue had already pulled out her pistol and officially started the fire fight. The two were quick to split up and take cover behind various piles of rubble.

It always seemed like these fights lasted for hours. Maybe if Piper was a better shot she’d be able to take them down as fast as Blue did. The woman out of time was almost graceful with a weapon of mass destruction. She knew the vault dweller’s old husband had been in the military, but now she started to wonder if maybe Nora had been as well. Of course, maybe she was just more comfortable using a gun than the reporter was.

‘Also, “old husband”? Come on, Piper, the man died. Have some fucking respect.’ She mentally scolded herself for that.

She stopped her own assault to see how her vault dweller was doing. Of course, Blue was fine. She didn’t need constant help like Piper did. The reporter was sure she had used more stimpacks in the months they’d been travelling than Blue had her entire time in the Wasteland. It happened so often, especially in the first month or so, that Nora had just started handing Piper stimpacks because “you need them more then me.”. As embarrassing as that might have been, Piper was happy taking them all the same. That being said, she was currently completely out.

Blue was always looking out for Piper, and everybody else it seemed. The vault woman was just naturally good hearted, and charismatic as well. The journalist had to admire it to some degree. The looks, and a silver tongue to boot? Nora was going to make somebody very happy. And the way she handled a gun, Piper easily pinned Blue as the “full package”. A woman anybody would want in their lives, including herself.

The thought made Piper’s face flush, and she momentarily forgot about their heated battle. Piper and Blue, it sounded more like a mystery solving team than anything else, but she’d take it. Especially if Nora’s previous engagement was taken into consideration. There was no chance Piper would ever get any other kind of relationship, they would always be ‘Piper and Blue, best friends with hearts of gold’, and maybe that was all Piper needed. She sure as hell wasn’t going to ruin her first friendship in years just because of some unrequited feelings. Piper could have laughed, her personal problems were so mundane. Unrequited love? There were people being killed for nothing, with real problems, and she was worried about whether some two hundred year old woman liked her or not? Get it together, Piper, that’s pathetic.

It wouldn’t stop her from thinking about it, though.

If there was one weakness Blue had, it was paying attention to the things around her. In battle it felt like she only saw the people in front of her. Maybe that was how the raider was able to sneak around behind her, Piper wasn’t sure. All she knew was when she finally focused again, there was a raider with a pipe pistol aiming for the back of her vault dweller’s head. In a blind panic, Piper fired off her gun. It didn’t hit the raider, or Blue, but it did get his attention. She went to fire again but the gun only clicked.

“Oh shi-” BANG

Piper fell to the ground and Blue put a bullet in the raider’s head. If there were any left they had run off at some point during the gun fight. Piper let out a groan, holding a shaky hand over the bullet hole in her stomach. It wasn’t the worst pain in the world, but the movement had caused tears to swell up in her eyes. Nora was over in a second, holding Piper’s face and asking a million questions in a panic. It would have felt nice, if she wasn’t bleeding everywhere.

“Oh God, Piper….” Blue took a few deep breaths. “Okay, I can fix this. Move your hands.”

“Blue-”

“Do it!”

Piper hesitated, then slowly moved her hand away. Nora’s face went whiter than it already was, then started removing Piper’s coat. The reporter let out a weak laugh. “Is this the time for-” She cut herself off with a yelp when Blue lifted her into a sitting position.

“I-I’m sorry, I just need to know if it went through….”

The white undershirt Piper usually wore under her trench coat was soaked in a deep red, and that really brought reality crashing down on Piper. With the adrenaline gone, all she could feel was hot pain coming from her abdomen, and a slight lightheadedness as more and more of her blood drained onto the pavement. Her ears rang, and she couldn’t hear a thing Blue was telling her. Something about a doctor. Stimpacks. Diamond City. She didn’t know, but there was a sense of relief when she was finally laid back on the pavement, her coat now being used as a pillow.

She could have fallen asleep, but Blue lightly patted her cheek a few times to keep her up. “Stay with me, Piper. You can’t fall asleep, not yet. Just stay with me.”

“Blue I-Fuck!” Piper yelped again when Blue started to pull her shirt up above the wound. “What are you.. Doing?!” She questioned through gritted teeth.

“I have to take the bullet out.”

The reporter went wide-eyed. “Wait-wait-wait!”

“Piper, I have too!” She took the scarf from around the reporter’s neck. “Here, bite down on this. Then I’ll use it to slow the bleeding, you just have to do this for me.”

“Blue please-”

Nora gave her a look that said ‘I’m not dealing with your bullshit’, and Piper sighed, and took the scarf in her mouth. Nora pulled out a knife, and her gaze switched to apologetic for only a moment before she dug it straight into the hole. Piper let out one of the longest muffled screams of her life. It felt like it was tearing into her organs, and by the time Nora had pulled the bullet out she was openly choking out sobs.

Blue held the bullet towards Piper. “Th-There. See? Worst part’s over, sweetie.”

‘Sweetie’ Nora called Nat sweetie all the time.

Oh shit, Nat.

Piper tightly grabbed Nora’s wrist, dragging the scarf out of her mouth. “N-Nat…” She muttered, a little woozy after the whole ordeal.

Nora took the scarf, and started to tie it around Piper’s body where the bullet had entered. “Mm, Nat’s in Diamond City, sweetheart.” She tightened it, earning a pained gasp. “Waiting for you to come home.”

“B-Blue…” Piper strained.

“Just tell me if it’s too tight-”

“Blue, please-”

“We’ll get you back to Diamond City, it’s-”

“Blue!” The reporter finally cut Nora off, letting out a small huff of pain and leaning her head back. “It’s okay. It’s okay…” She took a few deep breaths. “I always knew… it’d end like this, y’know? Well, maybe not like this, but…” She swallowed, placing a hand over the wound again. “Y-You know… You’re the best thing that-eugh-ever happened to me….”

“You’re not gonna die, Piper.” Nora stated firmly, and Piper gave her a half hearted smile.

“I just… wanted you to know that…” The reporter paused. This was not the time to start revealing secret feelings. Or, maybe it was the perfect time. There were no consequences for the dead, and if this was really her last shot to say something… “I… You were… my best friend, Blue.”

“And you’re mine.” Blue gave a sad smile.

Piper could feel another wave of tears fill her eyes. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t tell Nora how she felt, not like this. It wouldn’t be fair. If, for some reason, Blue did return her feelings, it was going to make their current situation ten times harder. And, on the more likely even the vault dweller didn't like her, or even hated her for it... She didn’t want Nora’s opinion of her to change just because of that. Piper decided she would keep that secret forever, in whatever afterlife death may have planned for her. She could die not knowing if her vault girl loved her back, as long as it meant Blue’s opinion of her stayed positive.

“H-Hey, if you’re gonna.. Sit there, watching me bleed out-” She tried to laugh that off. “-uh, how about some music?”

Nora smiled again, and tuned her pip-boy to Diamond City radio. Skeeter Davis hit the reporter’s ears, and she couldn’t help but wonder if that was some kind of cruel fate. To go out listening to something so beautifully depressing. The song always made her think of her father. How hard it had been after he had been killed, yet everybody had acted like it didn’t happen. Her world fell apart while everybody else moved on. Part of her wondered if that’s how Nora had felt when she’d been unfrozen.

“Blue…” Piper muttered, eye closed as she relaxed with the music. The scarf had done little to slow the bleeding, and now that she wasn’t focused on the pain, she could almost feel it leaving her body in favor of freedom.

“Yes, Piper?” Blue sounded on the verge of tears.

“W-When Nat asks.. where her big sister is…” She took another deep breath. “Tell her everything. She deserves to know…”

Nora let out a sniffled laugh. “Of course. The whole truth.”

“A-And don’t… don’t let her be like me…”

She didn’t get a response to that, but she was already way too exhausted to look at the expression on Blue’s face. The music got a little louder, and her head was moved from the coat to Blue’s legs. Even in her lightheaded state, she could tell it was way more comfortable than the coat, and maybe that was the point. Make the last minute of her life a little more comfortable.

The last thing Piper would ever hear was the final note to Skeeter Davis’ ‘End of The World’, and Nora’s choked out sobs, and she faded into a comforting nothingness.


End file.
